The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya (novels 10-11) spoilers roundup

FINAL UPDATE: 9/24/11 – Due to Yen Press soliciting an official English release of Surprise, I have removed links to the fan translation

Originally scheduled for release in mid-2007, the 10th volume of the Haruhi light novels, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Kyougaku), has been delayed for four years since then. Finally, after getting only a short preview chapter of volume 10 last year, volumes 10 and 11 went on sale in full yesterday in Japan and a few other countries.

In this post, I’ve rounded up all the current spoilers available in English for the new novels, and will continue to update the post when necessary…

WARNING: This post contains major Haruhi spoilers. Do not scroll any further unless you’ve read the novels or you don’t mind being spoiled.

*The majority of these spoilers were provided by my friend and fellow Haruhi enthusiast Ultimatemegax, as well as various 2chan users.*

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The two novels (volumes 10 and 11) were released simultaneously on May 25th in Japan and several other countries. Volume 10 is 291 pages and volume 11 is 282 pages.

The new female character, mentioned in the α (alpha) timeline of volume 9 as a freshman showing interest in joining the SOS Brigade, is named Yasumi Watahashi. The plot of both volumes revolves around her existence.

Sketches of Yasumi from the LE booklet

It’s later revealed that she’s actually the human form of Haruhi’s subconscious, which she created in order to save Kyon and Yuki from the events in the β (beta) timeline. Her phone call to Kyon in volume 9 is what begins the divergence between the two timelines. Because she called Kyon in the alpha timeline, she was able to prevent Sasaki from calling him, thus he does not go to meet her and the anti-SOS Brigade group, so the trouble he and the others have with them does not occur. Yasumi is able to shift between the two timelines and even create Closed Space and Celestials, but isn’t considered a slider.

Encounter between Mikuru (big) and Fujiwara

Fujiwara is Mikuru’s younger brother. His goal is to use Haruhi’s powers to alter the space-time continuum in order to save Mikuru from a time crime. However, Mikuru (big) denies having a younger brother and says that they may have been siblings in the past, but now (in the future?) they are not.

Kyon’s encounter with Kuyou from ch.1 of vol. 10

The preview chapter that was released last year is the first chapter of volume 10. It’s the only chapter where Asakura and Kimidori do anything major. Same with Kuyou, though apparently she’s the mastermind behind Fujiwara’s plot.

Below are scans of Noizi Itou’s illustrations from volume 11:

Points of interest for each character in the different timelines (rough translations from a 2chan post):

Alpha timeline:
Haruhi – Flirts with Kyon and perhaps begins the process of going to the same university?
Kyon – Flirts with Haruhi and has doubts about Yasumi
Mikuru – Thinks Yasumi is *ADORABLE!*
ITDE Interfaces – Nothing
Koizumi – Advises Kyon and has meaningless conversations
Yasumi – The expected new member? Takes guidance from Kyon and integrates the routes
Sasaki/others – Not seen

Beta timeline:
Haruhi – Takes care of Yuki
Kyon – Is ordered to hand over Haruhi’s power to the Sasaki side
Yuki – Has the “cold” due to contact from the Sky Canopy Domain
Koizumi – Advises Kyon, but finally shows his true character
Sasaki – Doesn’t want to go along with the others’ request. Seems to be infatuated with Kyon. Declares that she wants to change the world with Kyon.
Kyouko – Apologizes from beginning to end. Appears to be no threat
Fujiwara – Acquires a “regulated item.” Very “bad guy”-ish
Kuyou – Wants to know more about humans but had a bad experience
Asakura – Encounters Kuyou and that’s it
Yasumi – Appears briefly

Integrated timelines:
Haruhi – Runs from being killed by Fujiwara. Also continues plans for university with Kyon
Kyon – Is absolutely useless. Goes to Haruhi’s rescue, but can’t do anything. Later appears to begin plans for university with Haruhi.
Yasumi – Uses Haruhi’s power to mend the universes
Koizumi – “Don’t look down on this time period’s people!” and challenges Fujiwara
ITDE interfaces – Silently supporting everyone
Mikuru (big) – Affirms that regulated items are regulated
Fujiwara – “Mikuru-oneechan!”; Is in a rush, so tries to kill Haruhi but that ends poorly
Kuyou – Is the mastermind behind Fujiwara’s plots
Sasaki/Kyouko – Don’t appear

The limited edition release of the novels comes with a 64-page booklet that contains a short story called “Rainy Day” about Kyon and Sasaki when they were in middle school.

Cover of the booklet

Illustration of Sasaki in the story

Additional spoilers from volumes 10 and 11:

– These are not the final volumes of the series
– Kyon ends up going to Haruhi’s house
– Yuki tells Kyon that she accepts the world-altering decision he made in Disappearance
– Haruhi and Sasaki were once in the same elementary school class. Sasaki’s parents divorced and her name changed. Haruhi didn’t recognize her without her long hair that she admired at that time.
– Itsuki shows his angry side when he attacks Fujiwara in order to save Haruhi
– Kyouko is apparently incompetent – while she can’t seem to use Haruhi’s powers herself, she was easily able to adapt them into Sasaki. Those disappeared when Yasumi appeared in the alpha timeline.
– Kunikida is apparently in love with Tsuruya (?)

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I will continuously update this post as more major spoilers are revealed and when fan translations become available. So check back soon~!

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*FINAL UPDATE: 8/1/11*

After weeks of translating and editing, our little group has finally gotten all the chapters of Surprise translated into English ^_^ Ultimatemegax has complied both novels into two PDF files for your convenience:

Vol.11 – The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya (First)

Vol.12 – The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya (Final)

So with that, it looks like my work on this post is done. I’ll leave the old updates below if you want to see how our work progressed =) I want to thank my fellow translators and editors – Ultimatemegax, cnet128, carl14706, Zyzzyva, and Kaisos Erranon – for all their hard work on this release, as well as bloggers like Lloyd and fans like those at AnimeSuki for keeping tabs on and supporting our work ^_^ Thanks again to everyone who made an English translation of Surprise possible and to those who will enjoy it for the years to come until the official release comes out!

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Old updates

*UPDATE: 5/26/11*

Ultimatemegax has translated chapter 9 of volume 11 (roughly 13 pages of the novel). You can read it here on the AnimeSuki forums.

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*UPDATE: 6/02/11*

Ultimatemegax has translated Rainy Day, the side story about Kyon and Sasaki that was included in the LE booklet. You can read it via PDF here.

I’m currently working on an English translation of the final chapter of volume 11. Right now I’m about 1/3 done with it and am doing a little each day. Ultimatemegax is also working on translating the epilogue. I’ll be sure to update this post as soon as one of us is done with our translation, so check back~ =D

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*UPDATE: 6/15/11*

I finished my translation of the final chapter a few days ago!

I was going to wait until the epilogue is complete and post them both together, but I didn’t want to keep you waiting. The epilogue is near completion so check back for another update very soon!!!

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*UPDATE: 6/18/11*

Ultimatemegax has finished translating the epilogue, as well as making an updated .pdf of his chapter 9 translation. So to organize a bit, here’s all that’s been translated of the two novels so far…

I will add links here as soon as their translations become available. There’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll have full translations of all the chapters eventually – it’s just a question of when. I don’t intend to work on any more translations any time soon, but Ultimatemegax expressed interest in continuing to translate the novels if necessary when he has time for it at a later date.

So until then, enjoy what we have of Surprise so far and I’ll continue to keep an eye out for (news of) more translations!

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*UPDATE: 6/26/11*

New translator carl14706 has translated chapter 5 from his Chinese copy of the novels (and I edited it). I’ve linked it in the update above. Enjoy! =D

I just heard on the Baka-Tsuki forums that someone may consider translating it. And if not, there’s no doubt in my mind that someone will step up to the plate eventually. It’s just a question of when and at what rate they can release their translations (600 pages is a lot of work). But don’t worry, it will get a fan translation!

Yeah, she has a pretty cute design – despite being a high school freshman (supposedly) she looks more like a classmate of Kyon’s sister XD And I don’t know what’s up with that hairpin of hers…it reminds me of a smiley emoticon on AIM.

I will not feel truly ready to die in the future if I never know Kyon’s actual name from the source itself. I can’t wait for more translations or summaries of content. Also, I’m happy about the series not ending yet. Hopefully the novels have sold well and there comes another anime movie/series adaptation..

So, I’m a little unsure about chapter 5, I haven’t read it yet, but isn’t it always kinda dangerous to translate something that was already translated? I dunno how good the translator is, but this was already translated into chinese, and now into english, and whenever you translate something, content and meaning will kinda be washed away.
You are the editor, how close was the translation to the original?

Our fan translations aren’t meant to be professional – they’re just meant to give readers a good idea of what’s written in the original Japanese even if there are some minor inaccuracies. As far as I could tell, the English translated from the Chinese is fine though not perfect of course.

Normally, I don’t comment on blogs outside of Livejournal, but I’ve been reading your blog since you first started it (although I stopped reading for a while when I kind of fell out with anime, but I’m back on the boat now! ^_^).

Anyway, THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH for the translations!!!!!!! YOU ROCK! :D I’ll be looking forward to hearing about more. ^0^/

Here i thought Dissociation would be the last volume i’m able to read since baka tsuki dropped it and i can’t afford buying the official english version.
Thank you so much for your hard work !! This totally made my day !

Thanks a lot for your hard work, guys!
I can’t wait to read it, but I have a little request…

Do you still have the original files? I’m reading LNs on my mobile phone, but it doesn’t display .pdf files properly (i.e. very uncomfortable), and the pdf-to-doc converters all mess up the document badly (one of them even changed the picture colors, making Haruhi look like a zombie >_>). Preferably a .doc or OpenOffice file, since I can comfortably format those.